Walters, Henry Beauchamp: Catalogue of the bronzes, Greek, Roman, and Etruscan in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum (London, 1899)

xliv

CATALOGUE OF BRONZES.

Greek mirrors are far less common than Etruscan, and have, in fact, only
become known during the last thirty years by excavations. They have been
found chiefly at Corinth, where they were no doubt largely made, and aiso at
Athens, Eretria, and Tanagra, and in Crete. Archaic mirrors are generally in
the form of circuiar discs with a support in the form of a figure of Aphrodite ;
these appear to have continued in favour up to the end of the fifth century B.C.,
when they were supplanted by the mirror-cases decorated with reliefs, which
last into the Hellenistic period. Sometimes they merely consist of a case and
cover, with or without a hinge, the inner surfaces being polished for reflection,
and the top of the cover adorned with a rehef; other examples have a detached
polished disc inside the case. Occasionally we find an incised design on the
detached disc or on the inside of the cover (see Nos. 288, 289). The style of
the reliefs varies very greatly ; Nos. 288 and 289 are in the finest style of the
fourth century ; 293 and 294 are coarse and late. The subjects on these mirrors
are generally Erotic or Dionysiac (as 288 and 295), but there are several
instances of mythological scenes on the Museum examples alone, such as 289,
291, 293, 294. No. 3210 bears a unique subject in the shape of a horseman.
Among the finer reliefs, though not from mirrors, are Nos. 304, 305, 308, 309,
310, 311, none of which are later than the fourth century B.C.*

IV. ETRUSCAN BRONZES.

Next in importance to the remains of Greek bronze-work
History of bronze- are those of Italy, especia'Iy Etruria. The history of the early
working' in Italy. civilisations of Italy is somewhat confused, and has not been
Early eivilisations. elucidated or even studied to the same extent as that of
Greece ; but it is still in a measure possible to distinguish the
various stages and trace their developments. The earliest civilisation of which
any traces have been found is that known as the Terramare, in the region of
the Po. The people were lake-dwellers, living on piles in the water or in the
marshy lagoons of the Po valley, chiefly between Piacenza and Bologna. It is
in this stage that we find the earliest examples of bronze remains in Italy, at
first contemporaneously with stone axes, spear-heads, and tools, survivals of the
Neolithic Age. The bronze remains fall under the headings of weapons, tools,
and objects of toilet, including spear-heads, axes, celts, knives, combs, crescent-
shaped razors (rf. Nos. 2420-2423), and pins. In several lake-settlements actual
moulds have been found.f On the other hand fibulae, rings, and bracelets do
not yet occur ; nor are iron, glass, or silver known, and gold is only represented
by a doubtful specimen. Traces of a contemporary civilisation have been found

* It may be noted here that a hydria with a replica of the relief No. 310 has recently been found in
Rhodes; it is probable that the whole series of which Nos. 310-313 are specimens was manufactured in
that island, ali having been found in the same region.
t Helbig, Die Italiker in der Poetene, p. 19.